2 Churches Sue U.S. Over INS Infiltration

Top Lutheran and Presbyterian church officers sued the U.S. government and two of its agencies Monday, alleging that the constitutional rights of four Arizona congregations were violated by federal agents who infiltrated church gatherings with hidden tape recorders during an alien-smuggling investigation.

The federal government has acknowledged that a paid informant attended church meetings in 1984 to gather evidence for the conspiracy trial of 11 sanctuary movement workers, now entering its 10th week in Tucson.

‘Surreptitious Entry’

The civil suit asserts that the Immigration and Naturalization Service violated the churches’ right to free exercise of religion by “surreptitious entry” into worship services, Bible-study groups and mission-planning meetings.

Attorneys for the congregations and their parent organizations, the 3-million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the 2.7-million-member American Lutheran Church, filed the suit in federal District Court in Phoenix against the federal government, the Justice Department, the INS and its agents and informants.

In a joint letter sent to every pastor of the two denominations, James E. Andrews, the chief executive of the Presbyterian Church, and David W. Preus, presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church, said:

“The participation of national church bodies (in the suit) will indicate to the government, to our church constituencies and to the general public that the concern about inappropriate government entry into church gatherings and church communities is more than just a local matter. . . . It has consequences for church-state relationships in our entire nation.”

Testing ‘Proper Behavior’

He said that the suit will test “what is proper behavior by government investigative agents in relation to the churches . . . .”

According to Andrews, the suit asks that “government agencies be ordered to stop sending paid informers, without warrants, into services of worship and prayer meetings to tape, bug, record and otherwise report on those meetings.”

John Belluardo, public affairs spokesman for the INS western region, said that information-gathering in the sanctuary case involved “absolutely no violation” of constitutional rights.

“This is another effort by people associated with the sanctuary movement--as part of an extremely well-organized and orchestrated propaganda campaign--to hamper the efforts of the INS to conduct proper investigations of illegal activities,” Belluardo said in a telephone interview.

“The meetings our agents attended were held to discuss the smuggling of illegal aliens, not the worship of the Lord.”

In the conspiracy trial in Tucson, government informant Jesus Cruz testified on Dec. 20 that he had attended several Sunday-night Bible study meetings at the Alzona Lutheran Church in Phoenix. He said that plans to bring Central Americans into the United States were discussed.

Other Churches Involved

The other churches involved are Camelback and Sunrise United Presbyterian churches, both of Scottsdale, and Southside Presbyterian Church of Tucson.

The sanctuary movement claims support from about 275 U.S. churches, synagogues and religious groups. Its leaders argue that the government has violated its own refugee laws by denying asylum to most Central Americans and ordering them deported if they reach the U.S. border. Immigration officials contend that the illegal aliens are mainly seeking better jobs rather than fleeing political persecution.